Stabilization and enhancement of the antiapoptotic activity of Mcl-1 by TCTP

Mcl-1 is one Bcl-2 family member that plays a pivotal role in animal development. The extremely labile nature of the Mcl-1 protein itself and the fact that the Mcl-1 level is a critical determinant in various cell survival pathways suggest that cellular processes that regulate Mcl-1 stability are as important as those that regulate Mcl-1 synthesis. Although transcriptional stimulation of Mcl-1 synthesis in response to various stimuli has been well documented, regulation of Mcl-1 stability has been hardly explored. In this study, we identified that the translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) was one cellular factor that interacted with Mcl-1 and modulated Mcl-1 stability. While overexpression of TCTP augmented the protein stability of Mcl-1, knockdown expression of TCTP by RNA interference destabilized Mcl-1. Furthermore, TCTP stabilized Mcl-1 through interfering with Mcl-1's degradation by the ubiquitin-dependent proteasome degradation pathway, and the TCTP binding-defective mutant of Mcl-1 (K257V) was much more susceptible to degradation and manifested a compromised antiapoptotic activity. Taken together, these results suggest that TCTP modulates Mcl-1's antiapoptotic activity by modulating its protein stability. The possible mechanism(s) involved in TCTP's modulation process is discussed.